Jury recommends death for man in Orange County slayings of ex-girlfriend's father, sister

SANTA ANA - A jury recommended Monday that a 29-year-old man be sentenced to death for the 2007 killings of his ex-girlfriend’s father and sister and attempted murder of her mother in Anaheim Hills.

Prosecutors said Iftekhar Murtaza orchestrated the attack in an attempt to win back his girlfriend.

Jurors deliberated for about three hours in the penalty phase of Murtaza’s trial before announcing Thursday it had reached a verdict, said Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy. Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals decided to wait until today to read the verdict.

Two other men -- Charles Anthony Murphy Jr., 28, and Vitaliy Krasnoperov, 28 -- previously were convicted for the May 21, 2007, killings of Jayprakash Dhanak and his 20-year-old daughter, Karishma Dhanak, and the attempted murder of Leela Dhanak, Jayprakash’s wife.

Krasnoperov dropped out of the picture the night of the killings when he broke his wrist during a motorcycle accident, but he had previously tried to contact a hitman, according to Gundy.

Firefighters found the bodies of Jayprakash and Karishma Dhanak about 4:15 a.m. May 22, 2007, near a bike trail at Mason Regional Park in Irvine. Karishma Dhanak appeared to have been burned alive and her throat was slashed.

Murtaza, who was convicted of the killings Nov. 22, made several outbursts during the trial and again Wednesday as one of his attorneys, Julie Swain, worked to persuade jurors to spare her client from the death penalty.

After Goethals cleared the courtroom of jurors, Murtaza pushed a CD player and other items off the defense counsel’s table, Gundy said. During the guilt phase of the trial, Murtaza lashed out at Leela Dhanak as she told jurors what she remembered about the attack that nearly killed her.

Murtaza’s attorneys tried to make the case that Murtaza, who emigrated to the United States when he was about 10, developed early childhood behavioral problems because of the adjustment to American culture.

Murtaza’s developed “delusional” fantasies about killing Shayona Dhanak’s family after she broke up with him, the defense attorneys argued.

Gundy had a different take, arguing there was nothing delusional about Murtaza’s goal to kill Shayona Dhanak’s family so he could fill the void and help his grief-stricken lover.

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It’s not clear how much the religious differences between the two played a role in the murders. Murtaza was a non-practicing Muslim, but Shayona Dhanak’s family were devout Hindus and her parents didn’t like Murtaza, Gundy said.

Leela Dhanak at one point suggested to her daughter that she blame religious differences when breaking up with Murtaza, although it wasn’t actually that serious an issue, Gundy has said in the past.

Gundy ridiculed a defense expert’s speculation that Murtaza could not handle the rejection of his former girlfriend and her family.

“This whole bit about rejection, I say it’s a bunch of baloney,” Gundy said in closing arguments. “There was nothing delusional about Iftekhar Murtaza’s plan that night. He had a plan, and it was a plan that might have worked. But just because it’s a longshot doesn’t make it delusional.”

Gundy also encouraged jurors to consider Murtaza’s “lies” in his testimony, such as his claim that he did not kill the victims. Murtaza also testified that Bobby Brown’s son, Landon, was involved in the killings.

In addition to two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Murtaza was also convicted of attempted murder for the attack on his ex-girlfriend’s mother.

Jurors, who deliberated for about five hours during the guilt phase, rejected some of the special circumstances allegations in the murder counts. They rejected special circumstances of burglary during the murder of victim Karishma Dhanak, but found it true her killers kidnapped her.

Jurors rejected burglary and kidnapping special circumstance allegations during the murder of Jayprakash Dhanak.

Jurors found true special circumstances of multiple murders.

The special circumstances made Murtaza eligible for the death penalty.

Murtaza testified that he was “high on Ecstasy” the night of the killings and went to Dhanak’s home where he was discussing the family’s religious differences with him when Murphy and Bobby Brown’s son stormed into the home for a burglary and started the bloodshed. Murtaza claims he then fled and caught a cab home.

Gundy characterized that version of events as “ridiculous” in closing arguments.